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Bill Frisell As Leader: A Beginner's Guide
by Ian Patterson
To celebrate the publication of Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer (Faber & Faber, 2022), Irish journalist Philip Watson's definitive biography of the Denver guitarist, All About Jazz presents this beginner's guide to Frisell's discography as leader. Half a dozen other albums could easily have made the list, but these selections attempt primarily to highlight the range of Frisell's music and his evolution as both a guitarist and a composer. Bill Frisell's debut as leader, In Line, (ECM, 1983) was ...
Continue ReadingBill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer
by AAJ Staff
The following is a revised excerpt from “Chapter 20: Frislandia" of Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer by Philip Watson (Faber & Faber, 2022). Bill Frisell's music has always, right from the beginning, raised critical questions about definition and classification, about the very nature of genre. What is it that Frisell is playing, and how might we begin to describe it? The most common descriptor, of course, is that Frisell is a jazz guitarist. 'I don't know ...
Continue ReadingBill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer
by Ian Patterson
Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer Philip Watson 560 Pages ISBN: 978-0571361663 Faber & Faber 2022 The great guitar anti-hero Bill Frisell has dreamt of perfect music--an otherworldly blend of unimaginably beautiful sounds. It may be a just a dream, but that hasn't stopped the Denver-raised musician from constantly searching, for striving for this ideal. And on an inspired night he can get close...for a while. For Frisell it is the journey, as this, the ...
Continue ReadingGui Duvignau: Baden
by Dan Bilawsky
Gui Duvignau has had Baden Powell's sound in his sights for some time now. Born in France and raised in Brazil, the rising-star bassist delved deeply into that legendary Brazilian guitarist's work at the behest of several six-stringer friends. And as he studied guitar too, Duvignau came under the sway of Powell's advanced harmonic concepts, personalized technique and keen ability to skirt easy categorization by blending classical stylings, jazz sensibilities and a broad mixture of Brazilian traditions. Having then performed ...
Continue ReadingSkúli Sverrisson With Bill Frisell: Strata
by Ian Patterson
A meeting of minds, of hearts and of souls. Strata may be the first recording of the duo of Icelandic bassist Skuli Sverrisson and guitarist Bill Frisell, but so attuned are the musicians to each other's wavelengths, and so spellbinding their common language, that you could be forgiven for thinking they had played in this format for donkey's years. Originally a limited edition, vinyl-only release in 2018, Strata is now available for the first time on digital platforms, which is ...
Continue ReadingAndrew Cyrille: The News
by Ian Patterson
There is no denying the significance of Andrew Cyrille's oft-cited association with Cecil Taylor, not to mention his collaborations with other avant-garde luminaries such as Walt Dickerson, Ahmed Abdul Malik and Marion Brown. However, such reductive narratives tend to overlook Cyrille's own, fairly extensive output as a leader, beginning with What About? (BYG Actuel, 1971). Whilst there have sometimes been long gaps between his records, the Brooklyn-born drummer has struck a rich vein of form in his autumnal years on ...
Continue ReadingAndrew Cyrille Quartet: The News
by Mario Calvitti
Con una carriera che attraversa gli ultimi 60 anni di storia del jazz, dall'alto dei suoi 80 anni (compiuti un paio di mesi dopo le sessioni di registrazione di questo disco nel 2019), il veterano batterista Andrew Cyrille non ha alcun timore di mettersi ancora in gioco, come aveva già dimostrato pochi anni fa con il notevole The Declaration of Musical Independence (titolo decisamente programmatico per il suo esordio da leader per l'etichetta tedesca), di cui questo nuovo album rappresenta ...
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